About
I’m Leland Rucker, a writer, editor and web content/social media strategist and problem solver. I live in Boulder, Colorado.
For the last 18 months, I have been with Free Speech TV, where I am in charge of the online side of a multi-platform news organization. FreeSpeechTV broadcasts on DIRECTV and Dish Network, and more recently, on the Internet. I have been developing and implementing an online portal that works in synergy with the television station. Using SEO/SEM best practices to increase traffic and interaction, social media marketing tools Facebook and Twitter to add reach and brand recognition, solid editing skills and working closely with our technical team, I have helped build the site into an evolving, readable, up-to-date compendium of progressive news and thought based around our television programming, a mix of daily news shows, opinion/talk shows and documentaries.
Before I worked at FSTV, I was web content manager for NewsGator Technologies, a social computing enterprise software company based in Denver. I worked on social-marketing strategies and campaigns and researched and developed custom widget content for online corporate media clients and financial and research services. I wrote, posted and curated company weblogs about the RSS protocol, Web 2.0, social networking strategies and content management. I wrote and recorded tutorials and other supplementary materials for consumer RSS readers, and managed the company’s podcast and digital outreach programs.
My first Internet position was Content Manager at ServiceMagic.com, where I learned html while building an online home remodeling service that connects customers with service contractors. I created a website for Consumer Advantage Network, a cable television station based around consumer news, an early attempt to meld television news programming for an Internet audience. I also was a reporter and editor for Environment News Service, an online news portal, when it was located in Boulder, a business writer for the Camera in Boulder, and a stint as a content developer with Leopard, a B-to-B advertising agency then based in Boulder.
I began in newspapers and magazines, apprenticed at The Kansas City Star as a music writer and editor, worked for seven years at the Colorado Daily in Boulder as arts editor and culture columnist. From 1993-1998, I was editor of Blues Access, a highly respected quarterly journal of blues music, news, history and culture. I edited Flatirons magazine, a Boulder lifestyle/travel publication, for three years, and I was the first editor of Boulder Weekly.
I have written thousands of news stories, features, reviews and columns on the environment, wildlife, popular culture, music and travel for online and print publications as diverse as Wildlife Conservation, Stereophile, No Depression, The Rocky Mountain News, Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph, USA Today, Music and Sound Output, Performance, Digital City Denver and Blues Access.
I have three books to my credit. Written with Gil Asakawa, The Toy Book: A Celebration of Slinky and G.I. Joe, Tinkertoys, Hula Hoops, Barbie Dolls, Snoot-Flutes, Coonskin Caps, Slot Cars, Frisbees, Yo-Yos, Betsy Wetsy and Much Much More (1992) is a social history of baby boomer toys in the post World War II 1945-1972 period. Read the introduction to “The Toy Book” here.
In 1999, Musichound Blues: The Essential Album Guide, an encyclopedia of more than 600 blues musicians, was published by Visible Ink Press and is still in print. I also wrote the Southwest Colorado section for Fodor’s Colorado, a travel guide for the state, part of the popular travel books by this well-known publisher, in 2005.
I have extensive radio and television experience. In 1993-1994, I was co-host of “Music Talk,” a call-in talk show about music and the music business on Sunday nights on KBCO-FM, the top-rated Denver station.
In 2003-2005, I hosted a radio program on KCUV-AM in Denver. At the time, KCUV was programming a wide swath of American-based rock, blues, soul, folk, country and bluegrass, and I co-hosted a midday music news program.
Today I host “Honky Tonk Heroes” (classic country, western swing and cowboy songs), “Roots and Branches” (American roots and contemporary music), and Morning Sound Alternative (good old free-form radio) on KGNU-FM, Boulder’s community station.
In 1992-1993, for The Music Link TV program, I co-hosted a segment called “Critical Static,” reviewing the latest video/album releases of the day in a loose Siskel-and-Ebert style. And I have done on-air pledge driving and volunteer for KBDI, Channel 12 in Denver, and KGNU-FM public access radio.
In 2001, with Don Chapman, I wrote, co-directed and co-produced Sweet Lunacy: A Brief History of Boulder Rock, an hour-long video documentary that traces the development and rise of rock music in Boulder, Colorado, with contemporary interviews, archival film footage, still photos and music. It was chosen for inclusion in the 2001 Denver Film Festival and was given the Award of Excellence for video documentaries in 2002 by the City and County Communications Marketing Association.
My weblog, Jukebox in My Head, includes examples of my writing styles and things in which I am interested. Contact me: lerucker@comcast.net.